It
was a Tuesday night and insomniac Olive Snook once again found
herself lying awake in bed. Her eyes burned from the lack of sleep,
and her back ached from the countless hours she'd spent tossing and
turning, but her wandering mind was much to busy to allow her to
sleep.

It
had been a month since Chuck had moved in, and she seemed to be
settling in just fine. Olive, however, found the change to be just a
little more exhausting than she'd imagined it would be. Perhaps
because the secret she was keeping from Chuck had begun to become
harder and harder to keep. It was like some harsh burden had settled
on Olive's slight shoulders and had begun to bear a hole in her
tender heart.

As
if triggered by the thought, Olive's chest began to ache, and she
held her breath for a long moment, hoping the pain would eventually
go away, until a gentle knock at her door startled her into inhaling
deeply. Only to have the wind knocked out of her again when the door
opened and Chuck poked her head inside the darkened room. Olive sat
up quickly, pulling the blankets up around her, but it did nothing to
stop the chill that ran down her spine at the sight of Chuck, all
disheveled from sleep, as cute and sweet as Olive had ever seen her

Before
Olive could answer, Chuck nudged the door open more with her hip and
made her way over to the bed. She handed a thick, heavy mug to the
blonde and sat down next to her, tucking her legs under herself.

"Thanks,"
was all Olive could manage to murmur as she took the proffered mug
and held it securely between her hands to warm them.

Chuck's
fingers brushing Olive's hair from her face startled the blonde
back to reality after a few long moments of silence. Olive wasn't
even quite aware that she had spaced out on her friend.

"Hey,
you okay?" Chuck asked softly, her hands lingering on Olive's
face a little longer than was entirely necessary.

It
was then that Olive forgot to breathe again. She tightened her tiny
fingers around her mug and forced herself to look anywhere but into
Chuck's eyes, shimmering and seemingly all-knowing even in the
darkness. Her chest had begun to ache again, too, and it took all
Olive had not to cry.

"Olive?
Sweetie, what's wrong?" Chuck asked, concern filtering into her
voice as placed her hands on Olive's small shoulders. "Olive?
Breathe. Come on. You're okay. Come back to me. You're okay,"
she said, rubbing her hands up and down Olive's arms in a soothing
manner.

Finally,
Olive managed to bring her eyes up, catching Chuck's worried gaze
with her own. All at once, her breathing seemed to return to normal
and the burning pain in her chest had seemed to ebb slightly. She
stared at Chuck, who was seated directly in front of her now. She
wasn't aware of what had happened, exactly, but she knew in her
heart that the words Chuck had spoken had somehow managed to make the
air come back into the room.

"Sorry,"
Olive whispered after a few more long moments of silence. She took
deep, cleansing breaths, tried to calm her speeding heartbeat.

"It's
okay. You scared me for a minute there, though. What happened?"
said Chuck.

Olive
repeated a question that she was not at all unfamiliar with. "You
ever feel like all the air has just gone out of the room?"

"Sometimes."

"Well,
that's what just happened to me. I just felt like there was no air,
and it made my chest hurt."

"I
know, but it has nothing to do with you being a bad roommate. You're
wonderful. And, well, therein lies the problem."

At
that, Chuck's features contorted in confusion. "So, it's not
going to work out because… why, exactly?"

"Because
I--I--because I like--" Olive stammered, then caught her breath and
tried again. "It's because I like you too much. There it is. I
said it. I like you. Like-like you. And that's why we can't be
roommates."

"You
have a crush on me?" Chuck didn't sound angry; in fact, she
sounded quite amused, and if it wasn't obvious in her voice, the
smile on her face easily gave it away.

"It's
a little more than that, I think. That's why I can't breathe when
I think about you or when you're near me and my heart races when
you touch me," Olive admitted.

Chuck,
without thinking, ran her hands up the blonde's arms, then,
ever-so-slowly, so as not to startle Olive again, she leaned forward
until her lips just touched Olive's in the lightest of kisses. But
that was enough to make Olive's breath catch halfway up.

The
kiss was short and sweet, much like Olive herself, but when Chuck
pulled away, she was breathless.

"What
was that for?" asked Olive.

"I
just thought you should know that I like you, too," the brunette
answered sweetly. "It's nice to be touched by someone who doesn't
have to worry about accidentally killing me. And you're always
there for me, even though we didn't exactly get along at first."

Olive
smiled at that. It was the first time in weeks that she felt like the
weight on her shoulders had been lifted away, and she could be
herself around Chuck again. "Can I tell you something?" she
asked.